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| Europe |
| Germany sees sharp rise in deportations to North Africa, though numbers still small |
| 2019-02-23 |
| [DW] More and more rejected asylum-seekers are being sent back to Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, according to a new report. The German government wants to designate the countries as "safe" in order to accelerate the process. Last year saw a 35 percent rise in the number of people deported to the Maghreb states of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the Rheinische Post reported on Friday, citing the German Interior Ministry. Germany deported a total of 1,873 rejected asylum-seekers to the northern African countries last year, compared to 1,389 in 2017. The number of deportations to the region last year was nearly 14 times higher than in 2015, the paper reported. Morocco saw the most dramatic increase, with the number of deportees rising from 634 to 826. MORE DEPORTATIONS TO RUSSIA, INDIA Last year also saw a jump in deportations to other African countries, including Ghana and The Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... , according to the ministry data. Some 422 people were sent back to Russia last year, up from 184 from the previous year. India also saw a big jump in the number of deportations last year, from 32 to 212. Controversial deportations to Afghanistan also rose, up from 121 to 284. 'SAFE' COUNTRIES? The German government has been pushing for Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria to be added to the list of "safe countries of origin." Berlin argues that doing so would help speed up the asylum application process ‐ as well as deportations. Their efforts stalled last week when the upper chamber of the German parliament, the Bundesrat, rejected a draft law to add the three countries and Georgia to the list. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |